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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Listening to God in the kitchen...

Sometimes God speaks to me, not as I kneel by prayer bench straining spiritual ears to hear, or as I read Bible verses underlined with red colored pencil, but later, there in my kitchen, I hear His voice in my spirit.

Romans 8:28-29 (Amplified Bible)We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.

It was our designated Christmas cookie baking day. Daughters and grandbabies were coming by in the afternoon to help with the rolling out, cutting and decorating. My job was to have the dough made and pre-chilled. But I must have been forsaken by my "cooking mojo" in my sleep...nothing went right. The butter wasn't warm enough to beat until fluffy with the eggs, and then when the cookie dough was finally done and about to be put into the refrigerator for the appropriate chilling time, I snuck just a little smidgen to taste, and realized, I had never actually added the sugar into the butter and eggs. Sugar cookies without sugar...not good. I decided to add the sugar after the fact, and plopped the dough back into the mixer. However, when I went to get the sugar, it had somehow gotten moisture in the canister, resulting in sugar that was hard as a rock. So, I attempted to chisel out some chunks of sugar which I then attempted to put through the flour sifter, succeeding in flinging sugar all over the kitchen in the process. Once the sugar was added to the dough, not having been properly creamed with the butter and eggs, the texture of the dough was gritty...not good. I ended up starting over again with a new batch.

And in my kitchen God speaks to my heart about Romans 8:28 ...He uses my cooking to illustrate His point. My life is like a chocolate cake, and God is the chef. He knows the exact ingredients, measurements, cooking techniques, baking temperature and time, to get the finished product He desires. He never "wakes up without His cooking mojo". He is God and He is being perfectly capable and in control at all times. As He adds the ingredients that will make up my life, He adds some flour. That speaks to me of the mundane of life...the nothing out of the ordinary normal days. Then He adds some sugar...that speaks to me of the happy, joyful things that make life sweet. Christmas day is sugar. Time with my grandbabies is sugar, or a date with hubby, or lunch with a friend. But then He adds some cocoa powder. Did you ever, like me when I was a kid, think baking cocoa was going to taste sweet? Surprise! Unsweetened cocoa is just that...not sweet! This speaks to me of the disappointments in life. The not happy endings, life's bumps and bruises. I could go on about different ingredients, but the point God brought home to me is this. Each ingredient is essential to the finished product. And not only is each ingredient essential, but having the right amounts of each ingredient is essential. And not only having the right amounts, but added in the right way, and in the right order, and blended with the right technique, and then baked at the right temperature...and oh, there is just so, so much that could go wrong. But God,(thank God!), doesn't have a day, like mine, full of errors and mistakes. He doesn't have a day where He decides to throw us away and start over. God is a perfect chef who is perfectly good, and knows just how much, and how, and when and what to do to make a life where all things have worked together for good...producing a finished product that looks strangely familiar...bearing a striking resemblance to the image of His Son.

My favorite verse...I have lived my whole life with that verse as my "mission statement". And it's true, God does not have to start over and certainly NEVER would he throw us away...how grateful I am for that for I am surely a crooked stick living by Grace.What a wonderful day you had. Thank you for sharing.